Evaluation of Hydroxyethyl Cellulose Grades as the Main Matrix Former to Produce 3D-Printed Controlled-Release Dosage Forms

Diclofenac sodium tablets were successfully prepared via hot-melt extrusion (HME) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), using different molecular-weight (Mw) grades of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) as the main excipient. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) was added to facilitate HME and to produce drug-loa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pharmaceutics 2022-10, Vol.14 (10), p.2103
Main Authors: Hartzke, David, Pössl, Axel, Schlupp, Peggy, Runkel, Frank E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3-D printers
3D printing
Additive manufacturing
Additives
Cellulose
cellulose ether
Controlled release technology
Diclofenac
dissolution
Dosage and administration
drug delivery system
Drug delivery systems
Drug dosages
Extrusion dies
fused deposition modeling
hot-melt extrusion
Investigations
Mechanical properties
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Pharmaceutical research
Pharmaceuticals
Polymers
Polyvinyl alcohol
Temperature
Usability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Diclofenac sodium tablets were successfully prepared via hot-melt extrusion (HME) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), using different molecular-weight (Mw) grades of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) as the main excipient. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) was added to facilitate HME and to produce drug-loaded, uniform filaments. The effect of the HEC grades (90–1000 kDa) on the processability of HME and FDM was assessed. Mechanical properties of the filaments were evaluated using the three-point bend (3PB) test. Breaking stress and distance were set in relation to the filament feedability to identify printer-specific thresholds that enable proper feeding. The study demonstrated that despite the HEC grade used, all formulations were at least printable. However, only the HEC L formulation was feedable, showing the highest breaking stress (29.40 ± 1.52 MPa) and distance (1.54 ± 0.08 mm). Tablet drug release showed that the release was Mw dependent up to a certain HEC Mw limit (720 kDa). Overall, the release was driven by anomalous transport due to drug diffusion and polymer erosion. The results indicate that despite being underused in FDM, HEC is a suitable main excipient for 3D-printed dosage forms. More research on underutilized polymers in FDM should be encouraged to increase the limited availability.
ISSN:1999-4923
1999-4923
DOI:10.3390/pharmaceutics14102103